Adventures in Wig Land

This week, I decided that my favorite wig was in dire need of some tender loving care. So started my adventure in wig styling! I'd never done anything with synthetic hair before other than wash it, so the majority of this was done with internet tutorials and advice from a professional wig-styling friend. Read on after the jump for more pictures and details of my adventures in Wig Land!


I started by shampooing and drying both the wig and the falls. The falls dried nicely, and with some detangler, were basically back to normal in a matter of minutes. The wig, however, was very frizzy and looked just as bad as it did before I washed it. I started by straightening it to try and remove some of the frizz. Since it's a heat-resistant wig, I used a regular straightener set to about 310 degrees. It worked great! (Perhaps a little too well?)

Here she is, all straightened out and ready to re-curl.

To do the restyling, I used 1 1/2 inch curlers and a clothing steamer. Now I know a clothing steamer is not the best, but hey, I'm working with what I've got. I did the bottom layer first, and let it dry overnight before taking out the curlers. Then I did the top layer the same way.

After I had all of the curlers out, I used the straightener again to remove the kinks left by the pins in the curlers, and sprayed the whole thing with synthetic hair curl enhancer. After letting that dry completely, I did another spray of detangler, and then combed it out a bit.

The results? No worse than it was before! It definitely isn't quite the same as it was when I first got the wig--I couldn't get the curls to set as closely as they were originally, but it definitely has some volume and fluff again. The whole experience overall was a great lesson in wig styling. I know what I would and wouldn't do again, and I definitely think my skills with synthetic hair has improved a lot. Would I ever want to work with wigs professionally? Probably not. But for my purposes (Lolita and cosplay) I think I'll be in good shape.